


scouting out the dark (let fireflies light our way)

by DarkColdSummer



Series: fortune, misfortune, and everything in-between [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 01, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Episode: s01e01 The Rise of Voltron, Gen, Half-Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Protective Keith (Voltron), Season/Series 01, Successful Kerberos Mission, Voltron: Legendary Defender Season/Series 01, Zombie Apocalypse, grammarly is a lie yes i mean every one not everyone, like warning? shiro gets his arm cut off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26340511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkColdSummer/pseuds/DarkColdSummer
Summary: Fighting, they’ve learnt, consists of a bunch of luck. A whole lot of luck, just like how all of them came out of a literal zombie apocalypse without being initially infected.Shiro is. Well. They’re not sure whether to call it lucky or unlucky.Also, Shiro, it would’ve been nice to mention that the “something else” you found was agiant robotic (sentient, if Lance is right) lion-shaped blue alien spaceship!(aka, zombie apocalypse au part 3: they meet the blue lion)
Relationships: Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Series: fortune, misfortune, and everything in-between [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883455
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	scouting out the dark (let fireflies light our way)

**Author's Note:**

> In between this and the previous fic in the series: Shiro explains that he wants to check out the carvings that he found. He never gets the chance to explore them like canon-Keith does, mainly because there’s tons of zombies there, also drawn by the energy. 
> 
> It might help, if you haven't read the other parts of the series yet, to read said other parts of the series. It's not very long in total, just 2000+ words before this instalment.

Lance does not ask where Katie got the communication units from, but he’s thankful for it. It makes being alone, perched on a cliff, carrying his gun - freshly equipped with a sniping scope - much easier.

“I’m in position,” he tells them. “Also, this gun is really cool. Did you guys know that the scope literally appeared with a press of a button?”

“Really cool,” Hunk, glorious Hunk, agrees. He gets grunts of agreement from Shiro and Keith, and a light-hearted snicker from Katie, the gremlin.

“Enough fanboying over the gun, Lance,” she tells him and he huffs in amusement. “We’re going in.”

His apocalypse teammates are all… incredibly different, for a lack of better phrasing. It’s something he notes as he steadies his sniper rifle on the extra bag he brought for this. Shiro and Keith, for example, are clearly more accustomed to more close-ranged fighting. Hunk and Katie have long-ranged weapons, albeit with precautions in case the zombies get too close. Lance? He’s literally a sniper.

Keith, upon reaching his-turned-Shiro’s shack, pulled out a sword from a casing. It’s the most ridiculous thing Lance has ever seen. Even now, Keith is wielding that same sword into the fight. It’s too close-ranged than what Lance would prefer, but it provides just enough distance that he can rest easy knowing that that’s Keith’s weapon.

Shiro, on the other hand, is wielding a pistol, albeit slightly awkwardly. It’s compulsory training to know how to use a basic handgun, but he looks sorely uncomfortable holding it, like he’d very much rather be holding anything else. Lance wonders if they can get him another, more comfortable weapon soon enough.

Hunk’s is, now that they’re under bright enough lightning to tell, is an experimental version of the normal bullet-loaded minigun. Lance isn’t quite sure how it’d work, but he knows that Hunk and Katie had both taken a look at it and deemed it safe for use. He’ll deal with that much.

Katie’s is a bayonet mounted on a shotgun, not a short spear - not quite. Enough such that the bayonet can easily function as a comfortable spear. Lance knows that if he asks where she got the bayonet - an incredibly outdated piece of weaponry - from, he’ll still get a non-answer. It’s fine, he can live with it.

Lance’s own weapon is an incredible sniper rifle, stolen, just like all the other guns, from the Garrison’s supplies. He loves it and that’s all that needs to be said.

His teammates are heading into the area, so Lance takes quick and silent shots, taking down a number of stray zombies. Shiro was completely right when he said that there were a lot of zombies around. “Hey Shiro, this thing you found had better be worth it.”

“I hope so too,” their unofficial leader tells him.

It’s not the most reassuring thing, but Lance’ll take it, just like he’s taken everything else.

Keith moves in first, swinging his sword like it’s an easy extension of his arm. He uses a piece of metal that their tech-team wielded together as a haphazard temporary shield, even though it’s more for the peace of mind of everyone else. Keith is, for all intents and purposes, technically a zombie after all.

Alongside his weapon, Hunk is also carrying the thing (what even is it called) that he’s trying to find Shiro’s thing with. It must not be easy on him, but Lance sees his best friend put up with it and knows that Hunk thinks it’s necessary for him to be doing it, so he doesn’t voice any complaints. Hunk shoots off his laser minigun in a direction that none of them are in, taking down a horde with ease, despite his hesitations and misgivings with his weapon.

(“What if there’s a way to bring them back?” Lance remembers his best friend asking. “You know, like Keith. What if we’re killing someone that could’ve been brought back in future?”

Lance hadn’t had an answer for him back then, and he still doesn’t now.)

Katie and Shiro team up, shooting off the zombies with their respective shotgun and pistol, with Katie occasionally pausing to check at the smaller metre connected to Hunk’s machinery.

As for Lance, he shoots whatever zombie gets too close to his teammates for his liking, or simply picking off those lingering at the edge of the crowd. It’s a simple job, simpler than that of his teammates, and Lance can’t help but feel a little bad about that.

“I’m incredibly glad that these are laser guns,” Lance offers conversationally. “Could you imagine if we came out here with bullet guns and no silencers? Even more zombies would find us in minutes!”

He gets grunts in response.

-

Lance is the sniper, which means that he has to be positioned with the best view of the area, which also explains why he’s the first to see everything.

“We have incoming,” he warns the others lowly.

“How many?” Keith asks.

“Who?” Hunk demands, and Lance thinks that’s a lot more relevant.

“Two of those Garrison vehicles built for desert terrain,” he informs them. “I can’t tell how many people are in each one, but they’re heading this way.”

“Any way you can slow them down?” Shiro calls into the comm units, even as he takes down two zombies like a total badass.

“I can shoot out their tyres,” he says, aiming the rifle and preparing to shoot. “Do you want me to?”

“Do it,” their leader commands, so he does.

His shot rings true, and one of the vehicles skids and almost straight-up flips over. The other stops, instantly, and Lance watches Commander Iverson poke his head out of the vehicle, probably calling for his likely-injured colleagues. Lance is satisfied - he knows that the Garrison probably won’t follow them - so he turns back to his teammates, a split second too late.

“Shiro!” He straight-up screeches. It’s not his smartest idea, because that costs Shiro the split second he probably would’ve needed to fend off his attacker.

The zombie crunches down on his right arm.

-

Keith swings around - like he’s drawn to the sound of Shiro in trouble - but Katie’s faster, bringing her bayonet down on the infected arm, mercilessly chopping off the limb. Shiro doesn’t scream - barely gasps - but it feels like a near thing.

“Keith, get here! Hunk and Lance, cover us!” Their youngest teammate shoots, commands flowing from her mouth naturally.

All three of them instantly oblige, Lance focusing harder on those approaching his teammates and less on those on the outer rings.

“Keith,” he hears Katie say. “Do you have any flammable materials?”

There is no spoken answer, but Lance assumes that Keith nods, because Katie continues. “Good. I’m going to light a fire, and you’re going to heat your sword.”

“…And?” It’s a weak response, and a very valid question.

Katie’s response is grim. “We’re going to cauterise his wound and hope the infection hasn’t left his arm.”

-

The emergency medical treatment goes well. Shiro doesn’t appear to be turning into a zombie, Katie returns to battle once she knows that Keith is doing it properly, and Keith apologises non-stop, voice surprisingly shaky as he presses the hot sword to Shiro’s open wound. The hitch in Shiro’s breath is enough to speak for the pain he’s in.

The Garrison Trio have the courtesy not to intrude as Keith begs for Shiro to stay with him.

-

It takes a little while more of mind-numbing aiming and shooting, but the horde is finally thin enough for Lance to head down with them and prepare to head into one of the caverns.

“It’s going crazy,” Katie observes, glancing at the meter. “Woah. Those energy readings must be incredibly high.”

“What are these?” Keith asks, brushing his fingers along the carvings on the cavern wall. Dust falls off. No one mentions how raspy his voice is.

“These are the carvings I was telling you about,” Shiro says, not looking at the carvings, but rather his new arm stump. He looks up. “Though I definitely wasn’t in this cavern. They must be scattered across every one.”

“So you said the one you found told a story,” Hunk points out. “What about these ones?”

“I don’t know.”

Lance hesitates, stopping to brush off some dust off of a carving in a bid to take a closer look. The image of the lion calls to him. When he lifts his hand, everything glows a vibrant cyan.

“Lance? What did you do?!” Katie yells over everyone’s gasps.

“Exactly what Keith did!”

“Well they weren’t doing that before!”

The ground crumbles beneath them.

-

Lance pushes himself up, relaxing his grip on his rifle. Shaking his head to get rid of the water, he looks up and gasps.

“What the helium balloons is this?” Hunk gasps.

“It must be what’s causing the crazy energy out here,” Shiro says.

“Looks like there’s a forcefield around it,” Keith announces like they can’t all see it, marching forward towards it.

Lance steps forwards, and feels eyes on him. He looks around. No one else is looking at him. Only… the giant, robotic, blue lion covered in the forcefield. He takes a step to the left. Then two steps to the right. The feeling of eyes on him persists. “Does anyone else get the feeling this is looking at them?”

Katie shoots him a look. “N-no?” She answers hesitantly.

The eyes are totally following him, Lance thinks. But he doesn’t voice it out loud, you know, at risk of sounding like a total maniac.

“I wonder how we get through this,” Keith murmurs, feeling up the forcefield. It sends out ripples under his touch, the sound of water comforting Lance, even though he’s not the cause.

“Maybe you just have to knock?”

**Author's Note:**

> Immediately after this: there is no Galra battleship, because they don’t chase after Shiro. Blue opens a wormhole and they all decide, you know what, maybe aliens will have the answer to Earth’s problems. Why not? If they have the technology to build a robot spaceship, they can solve a zombie apocalypse.
> 
> Some of the character’s lines are taken from VLD’s first episode, naturally. I mean, what else were you expecting?
> 
> I gave Hunk my swearing habits. Sorry not sorry? Yes, I swear in “chocolate fudge cakes” and on rare occasions, “helium balloons”. 
> 
> I also have no experience with amputation or other medical stuff. I barely have any first aid knowledge, and the internet was surprisingly unhelpful with the process on how to close an amputation wound. On the other hand, I now know far more about sniping requirements and the psychology behind sniping than I ever thought I would.


End file.
